The Open Garden platform allows to control the state of the plants by sensing several parameters depending on the kit: Soil moisture (Indoor & Outdoor kits), Temperature + Humidity + Light (All kits), and Water sensors: pH, Conductivity, Temperature (Hydroponics kit). Three different kits are available, each ready for a specific kind of growing plant scenario: indoor (houses and greenhouses), outdoor (gardens and fields) and hydroponics (plants in water installations).

Open Aquarium helps you to take care of your fish by automating the control and maintenance tasks that take place in the fish tanks and ponds. Two different kits are available: Basic and Aquaponics, and many several extra accessories.

We are very happy just for the recognition of being included in 2014 best Open Source projects category of these awards. We will continue in 2015 helping to the Maker Community to create different hacks, sharing new projects, products and ideas.

We invite you to vote for these projects in these 2014 IoT Awards (clic above in each link). Just till 22th January.

We all know that sometimes is difficult to find the most suitable Christmas gifts for your family. That's why we have selected some kits and products that can help you to choose the perfect gift for any of the members of yours.

LoRa is a new, private and spread-spectrum modulation technique which allows sending data to extremely long ranges.

You can use LoRa right now with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Intel Galileo. We have made libraries and examples for all of them.

The SX1272 LoRa module can be connected along with the Multiprotocol Radio Shield to your Arduino or Intel Galileo, enabling transmissions with another SX1272 LoRa module. This wireless communication module is also compatible with Raspberry Pi through the connection bridge.

The LoRa moduleworks in both 868 and 900 MHz ISM bands, which makes it suitable for virtually any country. Those frequency bands are lower than the popular 2.4 GHz band, so path loss attenuation is better in LoRa. In addition, 868 and 900 MHz are bands with much fewer interference than the highly populated 2.4 GHz band. Besides, these low frequencies provide great penetration in possible materials (brick walls, trees, concrete), so these bands get less loss in the presence of obstacles than higher bands.

The great performance of LoRa in terms of sensitivity, path loss and obstacle penetration, makes LoRa a disruptive technology enabling really long range links. This is specially important in urban scenarios, with very difficult transmission conditions. To sum up, LoRa can get long ranges in city deployments, so it reduces dramatically the size of the backbone network (repeaters, gateways or concentrators).

Now you can transmit data at distances of several miles, even through buildings in urban environments, and over 20 miles in open spaces.

LoRa at a glance

LoRa Key Features

Module

SX1272

Dual Frequency Band

863-870 MHz (Europe)

902-928 MHz (US)

Transmission Power

25 mW

Sensitivity

-134 dBm

Channels

8 (868MHz)

13 (915MHz)

Range

LOS = 21km (13.4miles)

NLOS = +2km (1.2miles)

The tests

We have performed long range tests, getting the awesome distance of 22 km (13.6 miles) in LOS configurations and +2km (1.2 miles) in urban scenarios (going through buildings). The margin in those conditions would allow even more distance (x2, x3), the only problem was to keep the line-of-sight condition.

Cap is creating an all purpose e-Wheelchair controlled by mind using Neurosky products. He is also implementing Cooking Hacks e-Health system to monitor vital body parameters such as ECG or Blood Glucose.

Safety and Communication

Today, we want to share with all of you some information about safety and communication. Cap feels it is an important point of the project and it would be nice to dedicate this post to explain something about it.

Cap has included an automatic stop functionality to prevent the chair hitting people accidentally. He has included in the wheelchair several ultrasound sensors, one on each footrest and one behind. In the first picture you can see one of them. There will be 3 in total: all adjustable for distance and area covered. They will be fitted in the footrests and the rear of the chair.

How does the system work?

This sensors will stop the wheelchair at a set distance - if the chair comes near to anyone or anything, the chair will put the potentiometer to 0, stopping the chair from hitting people's legs in forward, or preventing hitting them if someone walks behind chair during reversing. It is an important part of the e-Wheelchair project due to the over 200lbs in weight travelling at any speed... The chair in motion can be very heavy and a dangerous machine, this system will work similar to the cars with Cruise Control that slow down when a car is nearing its sensors.

The second picture shows the communication device. It is easily stacked on the Arduino board. It helps to alert 3rd party if there are any problem and allows Internet connection. It can also be used to transmit location with built in GPS.

Cooking Hacks is giving technical support to Cap, helping him promoting his project and following his story closely! NeuroSky is providing him the equipment and development software free of charge to help people live better lives with the e-Wheelchair.

We are sure this project has a lot of potential and is relatively cheap compared to wheelchairs without such advances and tech. We will post more info as the project move forward!

In Cooking Hacks we have designed Open Garden and Open Aquarium, two Arduino based solutions for makers to control and measure garden and aquariums parameters, and to take care of these installations automating the maintenance tasks that take place in them, through wireless connectivity using Arduino Open Source API.

In this post, we will compare the main differences between these open hardware solutions we provide in Cooking Hacks to monitor gardens and aquariums, and the Waspmote solutions provided by Libelium, Waspmote: Smart Agriculture and Smart Water. The idea is to help you to choose the platform that suits best your needs.

We will start comparing water monitoring products: Smart Water VS Open Aquarium.

Smart Water wireless sensor platform simplify remote water quality monitoring. Equipped with multiple sensors that measure a dozen of the most relevant water quality parameters (Temperature, Conductivity, Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Oxidation-reduction potential, Turbidity and Dissolved Ions sensor probes available), Smart Water is the first water quality-sensing platform to feature autonomous nodes that connect to the Cloud for real-time water control. Their sensors are available for both Waspmote lines: Plug & Sense! – ready to deploy in final projects, and OEM – to be embedded in a third party product line.

Plug & Sense! Smart Water

Waspmote Smart Water OEM Solution

On the other hand, Open Aquarium is an Aquaponics Sensor Platform for makers, based on Arduino. It has been designed to help makers to take care of their aquariums, fish tanks and ponds, automating the maintenance tasks that take place in them, through wireless connectivity using Arduino Open Source API. Consists of two different and complementary kits: Basic and Aquaponics, and many several extra accessories.

Smart Water VS Open Aquarium Comparative Table

Key Features

Smart Water

Open Aquarium

Intended for

Companies, environmental consultancies, city councils and municipalities that need to monitor water conditions in rugged environments and hard-to-access locations - rivers, lakes, swimming pools, spas and the sea.

Makers and individuals that want to control Aquariums, ponds and fish tanks.

5 sensors available to measure the key parameters in the fish tank and to control the correct state such as temperature, pH, conductivity, level and water leakages.

Actuators

Smart Water focus on remote sensing and has no actuators available.

6 different actuators to automate tasks such as feed the fish, regulate water heating and cooling, activate pumps to change water or administer medicine, and control light intensity to simulate day and night cycles.

Autonomy

10 years. Waspmote implements power saving mode. Solar panels may be added for continuous measuring.

Open Aquarium must be powered by an external power supply (12V - 2A).

Nodes Maintenance

Smart Water nodes are ready to deploy out of the box and sensor probes can be recalibrated or changed in the field, with kits provided by Libelium.

Open Aquarium is a DIY product and makers maintain and improve the installation. (Calibrated kits are also available).

Connectivity

Waspmote may use cellular (3G, GPRS, WCDMA) and long range 802.15.4/ZigBee/RF (2.4 GHz,868/900 MHz) connectivity to send information to the Cloud. It ensures real-time water control, even from sensor nodes situated in remote locations.

The platform can send information using wireless interfaces such as Wi-Fi, GPRS and 3G.

Meshlium is the Linux GW for Waspmote and Plug & Sense! devices. It counts with 8GB of internal storage and allows to connect the information to many Cloud platforms such as Axeda, Thingworks, MQTT, Telefónica, etc. It counts with many connectivity options: ethernet, WiFi, 3G, ZigBee, etc.

Data is sent from Open Aquarium to a laptop via an USB cable or via WiFi or GPRS to the Internet.

Open Aquarium Basic Kit

Smar Water One Step Solar Panel Connection

Smar Water One Step Probe Change

Let's take now a closer look to the main differences between Libelium agriculture monitoring products, Smart Agriculture VS Open Garden.

Smart Agriculture platform can be used to monitor different environmental parameters related to agriculture such as temperature, humidity, soil temperature/humidity, weather station, leaf wetness and many other parameters. The monitoring of these parameters allows to minimize time and money as well as maximize agriculture results. The Smart Agriculture board enables control with a finer granularity than existing precision agriculture techniques. Our solution brings extreme precision to crop growing in, for example, vineyards and greenhouses, by enabling irrigation and climate control to be matched to local conditions.

Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture

Waspmote Smart Agriculture OEM Solution

Open Garden is our Open Source hardware alternative to commercial home automation to remotely control indoor and outdoor plants. There are three different kits, each ready for a specific kind of growing plant scenario: indoor (houses and greenhouses), outdoor (gardens and fields) and hydroponics (plants in water installations). The kits include a suite of sensors form measuring parameters such as humidity, light, temperature, or soil moisture to monitor plants for optimal care wherever they are situated. The Hydroponics kit includes pH and conductivity probes. Its actuators can control irrigation, and activate lights and oxygen pumps.

Smart Agriculture VS Open Garden Comparative Table

Key Features

Smart Agriculture

Open Garden

Intended for

Companies, environmental consultancies, city councils and municipalities that need to monitor fields, vineyards and greenhouses.

Makers and individuals that want to control in-house gardens, small greenhouses, outdoor gardens and small fields, and also hydroponics - plants in water installations.

Up to 7 different parameters: soil moisture, temperature, humidity, light... and has three water sensors: water pH, conductivity and temperature.

Actuators

Smart Agriculture focus on remote sensing and has no actuators available.

Different types of actuators to modify the state of the plants: water pump, droppers for drip irrigation, electro valve, sprinklers, oxygen pump and growing light.

Autonomy

10 years. Waspmote implements power saving mode. Solar panels may be added for continuous measuring.

Open Garden must be powered by an external power supply (12V - 2A). The nodes are powered by a 2300 mAh battery that can be recharged using a solar panel. According to the frequency of the sensors measures, the durability of the battery can be up to 3 months.

Nodes Maintenance

Smart Agriculture nodes are ready to deploy out of the box and sensor probes can be recalibrated or changed in the field.

Open Garden is a DIY product and makers maintain and improve the installation.

Connectivity

Waspmote may use cellular (3G, GPRS, WCDMA) and long range 802.15.4/ZigBee/RF (2.4 GHz,868/900 MHz) connectivity to send information to the Cloud. It ensures real-time water control, even from sensor nodes situated in remote locations.

The platform can send information using wireless interfaces such as Wi-Fi, GPRS and 3G.

Meshlium is the Linux GW for Waspmote and Plug & Sense! devices. It counts with 8GB of internal storage and allows to connect the information to many Cloud platforms such as Axeda, Thingworks, MQTT, Telefónica, etc. It counts with many connectivity options: ethernet, WiFi, 3G, ZigBee, etc.

Data is sent from Open Garden to a laptop via an USB cable or via WiFi or GPRS to the Internet.

Welcome to Halloween week: these days, a lot of makers are sharing their Halloween hacks and tricks. This year, we are searching for some Halloween projects to showcase them in this post.

In adition, we have an interesting proposal for all of you. If you send us your Halloween Hack or project (surely you are "cooking" some Halloween specific hack this week) we will send you a 10% promo discount code for your next purchase in Cooking Hacks online shop.

Send us your projects to info [at] cooking-hacks [.] com. To be eligible for the discount, you must send us a brief description of your project and some photos or a YouTube link. A link to your post, if any, could be useful also! Send us your projects before Friday 31th October.

Trick or treat! Your Halloween hack for a 10% discount!

These are the Halloween Hacks we have found so far:

Control your Halloween decoration using Arduino

In this hack and tutorial, is explained how to control all your animated Halloween props with a single microcontroller (in this case, Arduino Uno). The way the hack is prepared, let you exactly choreograph how and when each prop will turn on an off, for a highly customizable trick!

Only for the craziest about Halloween and UFOs... check this incredible DIY UFO project, installed in Andrew Wyatt’s home. This Halloween flying saucer is made out of cardboard, tape, tinfoil, 8mm diffused neopixels, and it's controlled by Arduino. Featured in Thegeekyglobe.com.

Arduino Halloween thunderbolts and light­nings

This hack built by Brian Enigma gen­er­ates ambi­ent light­ing, but also kicks in some sur­prise thun­der and light­ning at the push of a hid­den foot switch.

And this is just one in a series of Halloween elec­tron­ics posts. You can check all of them here.

We are very excited this week: we are pleased to present you Open Aquarium, our new sensor platform that automate control and maintenance tasks in aquariums through wireless connectivity and yes, it comes with an open source API.

This new Makers solution is based on Arduino, and includes specialized sensors to measure vital parameters to aquatic life. Open Aquarium has been designed to help you to take care of your fish by automating the control and maintenance tasks that take place in fish tanks, ponds and aquaponic installations.

Open Aquarium allows to remotely control your aquarium and include sensors to monitor factors in water such as temperature, pH, conductivity; it measures water levels and leakage, and deploys actuators that can feed the fish, regulate water heating / cooling, activate pumps to change water or administer medicine, and control light intensity to simulate day and night cycles. The sensors send information using wireless interfaces such as Wi-Fi, GPRS and 3G, for a perfect solution to monitor complex Aquaponic installations.

Open Aquarium comes with a complete open source API and a web application that allows collected information to be stored in a database and visualized from a browser or from iPhone or Android smartphone devices.

Designed specifically for Makers, our aim is to design connected technology using open source code to help makers discover, improve, and scale new sensor-based solutions for the Internet of Things.